


The Legend of Bork!

by Kotanto



Category: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda) - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Dogs, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, I have no idea where this is going, bork, but it will be fun, come again is stuck, no beta we die like men, non-canonical universes, possible crack, so there's this, this work will be a disaster, with dog though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29325954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kotanto/pseuds/Kotanto
Summary: Bork! The nine Links thought they were done finding timelines and Links. Well, they were wrong. It’s probably time to question why the hero’s spirit reincarnated as a dog.Bork Link defeated Ganon and his army, rescuing Zelda. From then on there was much peace in the land of Hyrule. But one day, Bork Link smelled trouble. He ventured out from the castle only to find dark creatures in the woods! Bad creatures led to a big purple portal (or, Bork thinks it was purple, the Bork Link struggles with colors). And past the portal? Well, that’s what the fic is for.
Relationships: Bork Link and Everyone, Everyone and everyone?, Twilight and dog, four and dog, hyrule and dog, legend and dog, sky and dog, time and dog, warriors and dog, wild and dog, wind and dog
Comments: 13
Kudos: 40





	The Legend of Bork!

bork

Twilight was a bit unlike the other Links.

This was to be expected, of course, one often ends up a little different after learning how to run, fight, and live like a wolf. It takes a different mindset to succeed as a canine, a mindset that usually involves thinking with your nose and ears before your eyes, or listening to the chitter of animals before the chatter of Hylians. It made Twilight one of the Link’s most valuable scouts and watchmen, which is why he was patrolling up ahead on such a fine summer day.

The rest of the heroes followed in his wake. Usually, it was the Traveler and the Champion who took it upon themselves to blaze the trail and lead on ahead, but everyone was fairly weary after a long day of travel through Goron territory. They’d finally gotten out of the volcanic region, but that didn’t help much with summer temperatures. Undershirts had been shed and tunics stuck tightly to sweaty skin, Twilight’s own clothing pulling uncomfortably at the joints. The wide berth of nature around them seemed to complain too, humming up a bleary chorus of hazy cricket chirps and the stifled brush of sun-yellowed grass against hot, sticky boots. 

He blinked twice, clearing his vision of some of the summertime haze. It wouldn’t do much to have the lookout distracted. However, his attention meandered briefly back to the slow conversation eddying about behind him. Nothing very important, Four commented on the state of Wild’s sword. Legend joined in. Wind proudly huffed something about being able to fight without a sword, Sky started off once more about how great the Master Sword was. A tangent soon to devolve into a conversation between the Skyloftian and Warriors about technique and knighthood and all of that. 

Twilight smiled faintly. The tracks of adventurers’ small talk were comfortably well-worn and familiar, a nice constant to fall back on when branches snapped suddenly from somewhere off in the woods and monsters caterwauled in outrage. 

Ears pricked, eyelids flared open, senses running full steam, Twilight’s hand flashed to the grip of his sword, the other hand raising to halt the group.

Time spoke from behind him. “What is it?”

Twilight’s gaze drifted to the ground as he listened carefully out towards the woods, ears straining near uncomfortably for the snap of a twig, the stamp of a foot, or the… bark of a dog?

He lowered his hand, cutting away into the woods. “It’s probably nothing, but I’ll check it out.” Twilight called over his shoulder curtly, slipping between gaps in the underbrush and into the thick of the forest. 

Shadows of trees flickered at the edge of his vision, morphing and snapping into the silhouette of looming monsters that only the peripheral could catch. He kept a hand on his sword, trying to pinpoint the sound as he slipped through the forest with practiced ease. If being a wolf had taught him anything, which it had, and quite a lot actually, it was how to stalk your prey. 

Speckled splattering arcs of dark monster’s blood had been slapped across the trunks of young trees, which quietly dripped crimson down below to sink into the warm, soggy leaf litter. The ground was raked through with claw marks and heavy-gaited monster’s prints, a tuft of pale fur was caught in the brambles. 

Twilight bent down to inspect the tracks briefly.  _ Two or three monsters, and one animal. Hunting perhaps? _ The hero frowned. He had heard a bark, that was for sure. The idea of a monster, of anyone, hunting a dog for food settling disgustingly and uncomfortably in his stomach. There was a growl from somewhere up ahead, shrubbery and trees shuddered and rustled at the commotion, a bark sounded again. Lips pulling taut into a frown, the hero marched onward. 

After all, Twilight really liked dogs. 

Skillful feet carried him into a run, sword drawn. It didn’t even take two seconds for the hero to process the scene before him and enact a plan.

Three bokoblins cornering one creamish-coated dog against a sheer hillside. Twilight whistled loudly, all the noise needed to get their attention.

The first bokoblin charged with a snarl, hissing what was probably a monster-tongue insult between its crooked yellow teeth. Twilight easily dodged the creature’s clumsy swing, sidestepping before launching back into a slash-and-jab combo, catching its exposed side. 

One down, two to go. 

The other two were smarter, charging at the same time. It was no matter for a skilled swordsman. He lept to one side, quickly finding his balance and taking advantage of the bokoblin’s unskilled guard with a quick slash across its face. Blinded, it reared back with a guttural snarl of confusion and rage, tripping into its companion. The hero made haste to run it through and deal with the next bok-

It tackled him suddenly, shoving the dead bokoblin’s body aside as it dissolved into mist. Twilight yelped in alarm, raising his sword to block the vicious downstroke of the bokoblin’s club.

The club and bokoblin were yanked away from his vision, the whiplash in direction change confusing Twilight for a moment. His eyes registered what happened. The dog had the bokoblin by the leg and had yanked it away, growling and shaking the limb grasped in its jaws with a stubborn glint in its eye. Twilight wasted no time capitalizing on the pupper’s help, stabbing the bokoblin (not slashing, he could his the doggo) and twisting the blade as the hero drove it through to the hilt. The creature’s body thumped lamely to the floor as it began to dissipate into smog. 

Something wet and warm nosed his hand, and Twilight looked down to find the dog practically smiling up at him, tongue lolling about and tail wagging. The hero grinned and sheathed his blade, he could clean it later. Right now there was a dog. 

“Hey there big guy, what are you doing out here?” The Ordonian said softly as he gave the doggo a pat between its wolf-like ears. The dogs were big in Wild’s Hyrule. Goddesses, Twilight loved Wild’s Hyrule for that. The canine simply licked his face, eliciting a chuckle from the hero.

Now that he wasn’t killing monsters, Twilight could get a better look at the dog. He was large, probably mostly fluff, but still large, with a thick creamy coat and white underbelly and muzzle, ear-tip and tail both the same sort of dirty apricot color. His fur was matted with blood around the mouth and paws, some on the back and flank, but the animal didn’t seem distressed, so Twilight wasn’t very worried about him being injured, thankfully. The hero smiled and scratched the dog’s chest. “You were very helpful back there, thank you for getting that bokoblin off of me.” 

The dog ruffed softly as if saying ‘you’re welcome’, planting a few licks on Twilight’s nose. Twilight stood, and the dog wagged its tail. Now that it was looking up at him, the summer sun fully lit up the blue of the dog’s eyes. 

Twilight crossed his arms with a huff. “You know, I’d really like to bring you back with me. But you know how that’s going to go? Time’s going to tell me to stop adopting animals, Warriors is going to go on and on about how travel rations are important and you’re just another mouth to feed, on the flipside Hyrule may try and eat you? I don’t know- he was raised in a cave or something.” The dog tilted his head with a whine, ears flattening slightly. Twilight gave it a reassuring scratch under the chin. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’d never let him. I think Legend and Four are more cat people. So that leaves, Sky, Wild, and Wind on my side. Ah, but that’s still four to five, we’d be outnumbered, Mr. Woofer.” 

Twilight sighed, and he could've sworn the big mutt sighed too. “That’s really too bad.. I’ll figure something out though.”

Twilight took a step forward to leave, and the dog did too. The hero’s blue-grey eyes lit up with realization, and he bent down over his knees to look at the dog. “Hey, so if you follow me and I don’t tell you to then it’s your choice right?”

“ _ Ruff _ .”

“So Time can’t tell me not to bring you because I never brought you in the first place.”

“ _ Ruff _ .”

“Therefore I’m going to walk away. And you can do whatever you want. But I’m hoping you want to follow.”

At this point, the dog had stopped paying attention and was scratching his ear. 

Twilight ran a hand through his hair. “Honestly, talking to you as a wolf would be easier but the others are still fairly close by, and I don’t want to risk it.” The hero stood fully, adjusting his baldric. “Ok then. I am off.”

Twilight took a step to leave, and much to his delight, the dog did too.

  
  


Wild and Wind were bent over the Sheikah slate as the group walked on. Slowly, though, Time didn’t want to leave Twilight too far behind. The eldest hero caught snippets of conversation.

“I betcha he found a dog or something, but it’d be weird to see one so far from a stable- you’ve really never seen a dog?”

“We have pigs on the island but I wish we had these too! They look so friendly.”

“Right?! You can say hi to one when we get to a stable. I  _ swear _ my Hyrule isn’t all volcanoes and knee-high grass.”

Time chuckled as Hyrule looked a little displeased at this. The traveler mopped sweaty bangs away from his face. “..I kinda like the knee-high grass.”

The underbrush and thickets rustled as Twilight came into view. Followed shortly by a- of course. Time pinched the bridge of his nose as Wind and Wild gasped in excitement.

“Wild Wild Wild dOg?!”

“Ye, dog.” The Champion replied rather nonchalantly. 

The large creamy canine trotted amiably over to Wild and Wind, as Twilight sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. Time fixed the younger with a cold one-eyed stare.

“Animals are a-”

“-lot of responsibility. I know, Time, I’m a farmer.”

“I am also a farmer.”

“By marriage.”

“Well, my wife is a farmer.”

“That is what by marriage means, yes.”

Time crossed his arms thoughtfully. “I was going somewhere with that, I know I was.”

Twilight chuckled, walking over to the dog. Sky had meandered over as well, curiously looking at the canine. “Losing your train of thought so quickly already Old Man? Your mind is going oh too fast.”

Hyrule stood some distance away, warily eyeing the canine. “Is it going to try and eat us or something? Do we need to eat it first?”

Wild turned around surprisingly nonchalantly. “Impossible. These guys have plot armor or something. You can kill wolves but you can’t kill Hylian Retrievers.” 

Warriors clucked disapprovingly, probably trying to forget that Twilight was older than him as he prepared a rebuke. “He’s going to be another stomach to feed.”

Legend nodded in agreement. “He’ll probably be clingy. And sheddy. And gross.”

Four gave the dog a pat but shrugged his shoulders. “We’ve already got that wolf that hangs around.”

“But he’s cute!” Wild and Wind shouted practically in unison as Sky nodded in agreement.

For reasons Time couldn’t place, Twilight locked eyes with the dog for a moment before beginning to laugh, a low and genuine chuckle. “See Mr. Woofer? It played out exactly as I said.”

Time snorted. “ _ Mr. Woofer? _ I may just let you keep him around if only to come up with a better name.”

“Really-?”

“No.” The hero of Time finished curtly. “You can’t keep trying to adopt animals Twilight, life on the road fighting evil is no place for a domestic pet.” Time through the dog bristled at something, jowls pulling into a brief growl before he went back to wagging his tail and greeting the boys.

Twilight shrugged, a rare mischievous glint in his eyes. “Well, I never coaxed the dog into anything. He’s here of his own accord. Besides, he practically saved me from a bokoblin, and he’s all dirty and needs a bath, and he’s far from any civilization and probably needs a meal, and Wild and Wind already really like him, and-”

Legend groaned into his hands. “Time, just let him keep the dog so he shuts up.”

Time paused, and looked at the scene before him. Sky and Wind had clearly never seen a dog before and were in love with the new canine. Warriors was only worried about supplies but Time knew Wild could cook enough for twenty. Legend would keep his distance anyways and Four, despite his voicings of reservation, seemed fairly indifferent. Hyrule being Hyrule, he’d probably come around within the hour. It’d probably also be easier for the Traveler to trust the dog when he wasn’t dirty and bloody, maybe Wild could help Twilight clean him off before din-

“Dammit.” Time hissed under his breath.  _ The dog’s been around two seconds too long, I’m already attached. _ He smirked reluctantly. “Alright, he can stay.”

Wild high-fived Wind with a faint cheer and Twilight knelt down to ruffle the dog’s thick scruff affectionately. “Alright Mr. Woofer, looks like you’re with us.”

“ _ Bork! _ ”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> And now it's time to forget about the second half of this chapter until multiple chapters later.
> 
> This is a big experimental disaster to mess around with and have doggo. Proof read the first chapter exactly once and that's probably how all the chapters will be. 
> 
> Have a great day :) bork.


End file.
